AWS Serverless + Node.js Developer | Own the Backend of a Live Content-Ops Platform

Type: Ongoing hourly contract Estimated load: Part-time to start (~10–20 hrs/week), with a defined paid trial first Looking for: Senior-level, AWS serverless + full-stack JavaScript About the project I run a boutique social media agency in a specialized vertical. I've built a custom web app — the Content Studio — that manages our full content pipeline: AI caption generation, designer handoff, client approval, and export to scheduling. It's already deployed and working in production. I'm now extending it with three new systems, and I'm looking for a developer to own the backend and AWS infrastructure of that work. I'll stay hands-on with product direction, content logic, and the frontend — you'll own the cloud and server side end to end. The current stack: Frontend: React + TypeScript (Vercel) Backend: Node.js + Express (Railway) Database: PostgreSQL (Railway) AWS: Lambda, Pinpoint, Bedrock, Rekognition, DynamoDB, S3 Other: Resend, Serper, Cloudflare R2, GitHub auto-deploy There's a detailed architecture document I'll share with the right candidate — the system is well specified, not a vague idea. What you'd be building The near-term focus is an SMS photo-intake system: clients text photos to a dedicated number, an AI conversation (Bedrock) captures context, images are auto-analyzed (Rekognition) and quality-checked, and everything writes back to our PostgreSQL knowledge base to feed content generation. After that, two additional backend-heavy systems are specced and ready to build. Who I'm looking for You should be genuinely strong across: AWS serverless — Lambda, Pinpoint (SMS/MMS), Bedrock, Rekognition, DynamoDB, S3, IAM, SNS Node.js / Express backend development PostgreSQL schema design and queries Comfortable reading and extending an existing, documented codebase — not just greenfield builds Nice to have: React/TypeScript familiarity (so you can integrate cleanly with the frontend I maintain), experience with Railway and Vercel. Just as important as the code: Clear written communication. I'm not reviewing your code line by line, so I rely on you to tell me what's done, what's blocked, and what decisions you're making. You commit continuously to my GitHub repo as you work — not a single dump at the end. You explain what you build. Short weekly walkthrough or written summary so I always understand my own system at a high level. How this works Step 1 — Paid trial milestone. Before any ongoing commitment, I'd like you to complete one self-contained task: wire up the inbound SMS flow for a single test number end to end — Pinpoint → SNS → Lambda → Rekognition → Bedrock conversation → write to the backend. Most of the AWS account scaffolding is already in place. This is the best way for both of us to see if it's a fit. Step 2 — Ongoing contract. If the trial goes well, we move into the full build on an ongoing hourly basis. To apply Please include: A specific example of an AWS serverless system you've built or inherited — what it did and what your role was. A one-line answer: have you worked with Amazon Pinpoint and Bedrock specifically? (Honest "no" is fine — I'd rather know.) Your hourly rate and rough weekly availability. Applications that don't reference the AWS specifics above will tell me you skimmed — please don't. I'm looking for someone reliable I can work with for the long term as this platform grows. Looking forward to hearing from you.